Malaysia's retail sales grow 5.6 pct in first quarter
Xinhua
18 Jun 2025, 21:46 GMT+10
KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's retail industry recorded a positive growth rate of 5.6 percent in retail sales in the first quarter of 2025 as compared to the same period in 2024, an industry research firm said on Wednesday.
Retail Group Malaysia (RGM) said in its industry report that this latest quarterly growth was slightly below the market estimate at 5.9 percent in March.
According to the report, the retail sales were driven by the Chinese New Year festival at the end of January, the month-long national school holiday from January to February, as well as the Hari Raya celebration at the end of March.
The association, however, were pessimistic about the retail sales performance for the second quarter, which would drop by 1 percent.
The retail sector in the country is anticipated to expand moderately by 2.8 percent during the third quarter.
For the last quarter, Malaysia's retail industry is forecast to grow by 3.5 percent year-on-year.
The RGM has also revised downwards Malaysia's annual retail industry growth rate for 2025 to 3.1 percent. This revision was mainly due to the much lower projection for the second quarter as well as the economic challenges for the rest of the year.
It noted that the current trade tension worldwide will have a direct impact on Malaysia's economic outlook.
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